Hometown: Book Festival Seeking Authors for Fall Event

Budding or established area authors have the chance to participate in this year’s Williamsburg Book Festival.

The festival will be held Sept. 20 at Bruton Parish’s Lewis Hall as part of Williamsburg’s Arts Month. Organizers are looking for authors to participate in the second annual book bonanza.

Last year, the festival roster filled up quickly and there was a long waiting list. It featured 23 regional authors to the free event, with more than 350 guests at the workshops and book fair.

Festival founder Greg Lilly said in a news release the selection of book genres was generally varied, but still sparse in a few areas.

“Some additional authors and books approached the festival — after we had filled — with wide-ranging subjects that would have attracted additional customers,” he said.

To ensure a diversity of subjects in the face of a strong interest in participating, this year’s festival will be juried. With a mix of readers, editors, publishers and book marketers, the selection committee will look at quality and range of subject, and scout for authors experienced and emerging who are serious about the craft.

Authors have the option to send a copy of their book to the selection committee for review. They will then be donated to Literacy for Life, the nonprofit beneficiary of the festival.

Invitations for selected authors will be send in July.

“Please remember that if you are not invited to participate this year, the selection is heavily based on providing a wide variety of books. … This is not a reflection on the author,” Lilly said. “It is a process to present a multi-genre, quality book festival to the community.”